Two days of sunny Dublin Bay perfection, with light easterlies on Saturday and an initially brisk westerly on Sunday, provided the notably sociable DBSC Cruisers 3 with an ideal launch pad for their new style championship, which produced an oven-ready event simply by combining the penultimate DBSC Saturday Race with the annual DMYC Kish Race on Sunday.
Almost all of the Class 3 fleet turned up for both races, and over two very different contests, there wasn't a single OCS, DNF, or DNC – it was a credit to the Class, and made for some great racing.
Saturday's DBSC race was on the cusp of being cancelled, but the RO wisely postponed for about 30 minutes and sure enough, a light breeze filled in, enough to stage a reasonable race around the bay. The course was wisely chosen so as not to interfere with the J/109 Championships which were being held in close proximity to the DBSC fleet. As the RO described it the conditions turned out to be champagne sailing, a light breeze of just 7kts and an almost flat sea. A great race ensued around 4 marks, ending at the MacLir finish line just outside the Harbour entrance.
Morning start. All the promise of a great day's sailing as the Kish Race fleet head away from the pier start, with the restored DB21 Garavogue on right and below
Sunday's Kish Race was a stunning day out. Forty-one boats crossed the start line off the DBSC Hut, which is no mean feat in itself, and set off on a downwind run to the Kish Light. Conditions couldn't have been better with a 10kt apparent wind and just a slight sea, spinnakers set and many colours flying.
The Cruiser 3's were well up with the leaders and remained so all the way out to the Kish. Then there was a huge fleet split, some going northwest on a port tack up towards Howth, the remainder going southwest towards Killiney on a starboard tack, with both groups being heavily affected by a strong ebb tide, and there's still discussion as to which way paid best.
Fascinating yacht design mixture, with the Nich 31 left, a Shipman 28 at centre, and the Dublin Bay 21 Garavogue on right
When the results were posted, there were clear winners in both IRC and ECHO. The Quarter Tonner Cartoon (Ken Lawless & Sybil McCormack) posted an impressive win on IRC on both Saturday and Sunday to take the overall prize, with the Formula 28 Starlet (Kevin Byrne) posting second overall and Maranda (Myles Keogh) coming in third. The ECHO prize was won emphatically by the vintage Beneteau First Papytoo (Frank Guilfoyle), followed by Eleint (Michal Matulka) in second with Cartoon emphasising the solidity of her performance by posting another podium place on third under ECHO.
The Trapper Eleint (Michal Matulka) on her way to the Kish
Perfect sailing conditions prevailed out at the Kish LV
It all made for a wonderful finale to the season with two days of cracking sailing and some great competition on the Bay. Class Captain Kevin Byrne issued a big thanks to DBSC, DMYC and Colin McMullen for all their help in staging the Championship, and especially to the skippers and crews for taking part to provide a great turnout with a solid showing of boats that augurs well for the future of Cruisers 3.
The prizes will be awarded at the Class Dinner on the 27th November in the Royal St George YC
The new champion. The Fauroux Quarter Tonner Cartoon at the start of Kish Race in the late summer weather of the championship weekend. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O'Brien
